The Rag and Bone Shop

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The Rag and Bone Shop (2001) is a book written by Robert Cormier. The book was published posthumously in 2001; Cormier died in 2000. It is important to note that the interrogation sequence shown in this novel is not very far-fetched as some prisoners have died under the amount of pressure caused by interrogations

[edit] Plot summary

The story surrounds a brutal murder of a young girl and the interrogation of Jason, who is supposedly the last boy to see her alive. An expert interrogator, Trent, has been known to get confessions which otherwise would seem impossible to obtain. Trent will do anything to get ahead in his career, regardless of whether or not the suspect is innocent.
Jason is eventually driven to his breaking point after Trent, who had twisted some of Jason's memories and persueded him to "remember" killing this girl, innocent as he was, pushes him to confess to a crime he has not committed.Earlier in the book he recounts the encounter with a bully in school who molested a girl and sneakily tortured fellow students. Apparently, Jason had hit him. To his peers, it appeared totally spontaneous, as though Jason had violent tendencies, and no one ever admitted to the reason why Jason had hit him. This alone was enough to make him a prime suspect, and was part of what Trent used to make Jason look guilty. Both Trent and Jason find out nearly immediately after the confession that the young girl's brother's alibi has been broken and a friend has turned him in. Jason is released and slowly grows insane.
Earlier in the book he recounts the encounter with a bully in school who molested a girl and sneakily tortured fellow students. The book ends off with Jason wondering why he could or could not commit such a crime as murder, obviously confused by Trent's techniques at confession extraction. He thinks of the boy and removes a butcher knife from the kitchen, knowing he would be at the local Y Center. He leaves the house, knife in hand.

[edit] Major themes

Irony is used throughout the book, particularly in the ending. When Trent at last extracts a confession out of Jason, he then learns that the real killer has been found. Thus, his seeming salvation (a promotion) has been his downfall.

The novel ends with the frightening, ironic scene of Jason becoming a murderer even though he was not actually guilty of any murder before. The idea behind the story is the corruption of innocence because Jason was a normal, peaceful boy and he was only turned into a killer via Trent's ruthless interrogation.